


Old Soul, Young Body

by PhoenixLumen



Category: Brothers Conflict
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Flirting, New Family, Other, Step-Brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 16:30:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18076940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixLumen/pseuds/PhoenixLumen
Summary: It is 2024 when she dies. She thinks it was a lorry that hit her moped, or maybe a truck. Whatever it was, she remembers pain, and dying, and the big white chamber full of other 'departed souls' that were scheduled for reincarnation.For some reason never explained, the operator sorting out her next life skips over 'memory-suppression' and 'reincarnation'. and goes straight for 'pre-existing life'.She 'wakes up' to a talking squirrel and a body that's not even in it's teenage years, in a foreign country where she (thankfully) can rattle off the language like a native.She's in High School when her calm(?) life changes though, and when her father gets engaged, she moves in with his future-wife's sons...all thirteen of them (so she thinks).----------She's Hinata Ema, but she's also not, and her words, thoughts, and actions are not what others might be expecting.





	Old Soul, Young Body

I am keeping a secret, and have for several years. If I tell it to anyone, I’ll not be believed, or be put into some sort of mental asylum, or testing facility. My father, this body’s father rather, is thankfully not around enough to notice, and the talking squirrel(!) that had been there when I’d woken had not seemed to see that she was not the person she should have been. Or if he had, he hadn’t said anything. Had taken the change in personality in stride.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------

She’s not making much sense, is she? Let’s start again.

Currently, the year is 2010, and her name is Hinata Ema; and she is a relatively short seventeen year second-year in Hinode High School. Previously however, she was a rather tall thirty year old, working as a driver to deliver parcels in the year 2024. It hadn’t earned her much, but she was a single woman working in a major city that did her deliveries from dawn to long-past dusk, given the rising prominence of twenty-four companies; she didn’t _need_ much.

There had been close calls before, she’d nearly been swiped by a large shipping-crate truck once when she’d been on her moped, but eventually she’d been hit by…she thinks it was a large van. She remembers pain, lots and _lots_ of pain, and then the complete lack of it. Remembered dying, and ‘waking up’ in a bed in a large room, and not being its only occupant.

She _remembers_ , although she thinks she’s not supposed to, given the wink the attendant gave her when he skipped the ‘memory-suppression’ and ‘reincarnation’ buttons for the ‘pre-existing life’ one.

And then she’d ‘woken up’ again, a talking _squirrel_ jumping all over her and shouting loudly whilst she lay on the floor, and she’d blinked at the pan on the stove in front of her, it’s handle sticking out over the edge of the hob. She doesn’t recollect much of the first days in this life other than those first few minutes.

But then someone, a neighbour, she thinks, had knocked on the door, and she’d told him she’d hit her head, and his wife, a nurse, was swiftly summoned. It hadn’t taken long to discover the large bump on her head, and touching it had sent pain near enough everywhere. She’d been willing to bet the girl, this ‘Ema’, had fallen and hit her head so hard, she’d bled in the brain and died; her presence seemed to have removed the worst of it, except for the painful headache and bump.

It’s not until she’d been sleeping that night that she fully realised just how _small_ she is now, and how she’d spoken a completely different language. She’d heard it before, of course, no-one who’d grown up in the age of Pokémon, Digimon, Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon could possibly escape it, but she’d never learnt more than the most basic of words. Now, she’s a fluent speaker… _native_ speaker, she’d realised.

And she had to get used to a talking _squirrel_ , who apparently no-one else could understand. She’d thought that she was like…like a magical girl, though at least there weren’t any bad guys gunning for her, because she’d really not been feeling up to pulling off a daylight-student, nightlight-warrior gig.

But that was then, and this is now, and she’d stayed used to living on her own, the sporadic short visits from her ‘father’, who was some sort of international explorer, not doing much to ruin her new daily routine.

Years had passed like this, until one day, her father returns, with word that he’s planning on getting married again. Only the woman apparently has thirteen sons, ranging from a doctor in his early thirties to a child of ten; a twenty year spread, even for thirteen sons, is no mean feat!

But then he starts talking, worrying, about her being on her own (why worry _now_ , when she’s _older_?), about how he and his wife will probably be jet-setting off around the world on multiple adventures for long periods of time, and-

She basically agrees to move in with her soon-to-be brothers just to shut him up and make him leave all the sooner.

Slowly, she sorts out and clears the apartment; ninety percent of the things here are hers after all. Further and further back inside cupboards and closets she sorts, finding clothes she doesn’t remember and that don’t fit her anymore, to kitchen appliances that have never been taken out from their box. She boxes-up her books and games, gets rid of non-refillable pens and disposes of the posters she just hadn’t gotten around to changing when she’d…arrived here. Eventually, her second-life is stuffed into boxes and suitcases, and the apartment has never seemed so empty.

Given her good grades, the school is more than willing to let her skip the Saturday morning classes, and she greets the movers with something resembling a smile. The last few bits are boxed up, which is basically just her bed and the covers for it at this stage, and she and Juli do one last walk-through once the movers have taken everything into the van, which isn’t even half-filled.

“It’s kind of like checking all the rooms in a game, for any hidden items, don’t you think?”

“You would think of games, wouldn’t you, Chi?” She stands on the balcony, taking in the view that she’ll never again seen from this angle. For how many years had this been the sight she’d been greeted with in the morning, or after coming back from school? How many of her father’s emails had she leant against the wall to read? How many hangers of laundry had she hung on that rail?

“I suppose we should get going, Juli. Out with the old.” She picks him up from off the balcony wall, and heads back inside, closing and locking the door behind her, and then pulling the net curtain closed. She double-checks the wardrobe as she walks through where her bed used to be; empty, as it should be. The fridge had come with the apartment, as well as most of the larger appliances, so they’ll be staying, but she makes sure there’s nothing left in them.

“Have the movers gone straight to the wolves’ den, Chi?” Juli asks, and he bounces up her arm and leans against her neck.

“Yes, so we should probably get a move on.” She blows her nose, putting the tissue into her pocket before putting an antiseptic lozenge into her mouth. The hassle of going to school whilst planning on moving out has run her down, and she’s not been feeling too well since last night. “I think building the bed should be the first thing I do when I get there. Everything can probably wait until tomorrow.”

“Good plan, Chi. We’ll have to keep an eye on these wolves as well. You never know what they might try.” She sighs. Juli has been calling them wolves ever since day one, and she wonders if it’s because he looks so much like a rabbit that any other males in her life will always be called ‘wolves’. She’s long learnt that there’s no point in telling him off for it; it just seems to make him call them that all the more.

The trip to Sunrise Residence Apartments in Kichijoji goes quickly enough, even when you include the quick stop-off at the 7-11 for a kaarage-bon. She follows the print-out of the map she’d done at school yesterday, making sure she finds the landmarks of the bicycle-girl statue and the long decorated wall. Then, if she turns the corner…no, not this one, next one… Ah!

“Stay on your guard, Chi! We’re approaching the battlefield!”

A few minutes later, she’s turning another corner, and-

“Oh, the van’s already arrived!” It’s only as she gets closer to the brick archway that serves as the entrance to the apartments that she pays more attention to the two people now turning to look at her. Simply judging by height and age, as well as how it would have had to be a name on the list she’d given the movers for who might be able to accept her things at the building, this might be Masaomi, Ukyō, or Kaname, who her father had said were the older brothers. Brothers…hah! This is going to be so weird. “Excuse me?” she calls out as she approaches them.

“Ah, konnichiwa!” The taller responds. “I already had them carry your things up to your room.” That…is slightly disturbing. Yes, she’s going to be living here, but she hadn’t introduced herself or anything. She could have been a random girl trying to ask for directions! How does he know who she is? Has…has her father sent them pictures of her? Without _asking_ her?

“…Right.” She knows there’s a slight questioning tone to her voice, but she can’t avoid it. She’s ever so slightly creeped out right now.

“I’m the oldest son, Masaomi. This is the youngest, Wataru.” The doctor and the elementary-school pupil; she’ll have to match the names and descriptions to faces now. Urgh, she’s got to do this with _thirteen_ of them?

“Onē-chan, konnichiwa!” That is a very… _enthusiastic_ greeting by the younger, and she tries to smile at him. What the hell was she thinking, about moving in with thirteen other people? She should have just downsized the apartment from a 2LDK to a 1LK, or even a 1K, had her father get her one somewhere between her school and her (hopefully) future university of choice, Meiji.

“Konnichiwa.” It’s lightly said, as she’s still thinking about the lack of oversight she’s given up. The quiet, the ability to do whatever she wanted to her own living space. “Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.” It’s simple manners that have her say it, not out of the _actual_ desire to have them take care of her. Her body might be seventeen, but if she includes the years from her previous life, adds on the time she’s spent here… Thirty-five. Urgh, she’s getting _old_. Oh gods, she’s like twice the age of this body… _over_ it, actually!

“We’ll be relying on you also.” Masaomi responds with a smile, and she hopes beyond hoping that he’s just saying it to be polite, not because he’ll _actually_ be relying on her. She knows how to do things for one person (two beings, if you include Juli); having to help do things for a soon-to-be household of fourteen is slightly sickening.

“Hmm. Judging by appearance, these two look harmless.” Juli states, looking at them from her shoulder. She wonders if her having a pet squirrel, one that freely roams around, is weird in their eyes.

“Let’s go, onē-chan!” Wataru calls out, rocking back and forth on his heels.

“Indeed,” Masaomi continues. “You’ll want to get inside and make sure everything arrived safely. We’ve called a family meeting, so you can meet everyone.”

“Yes, that would be good.” They head inside and up the lift, and he explains how the top three floors are for their family, with the lower two being rented out. She slides the door key-card into her wallet when he passes it to her. On the fourth floor, the three of them get out, and they show her where her room is; it looks a complete mess with all the boxes everywhere.

Her bed’s even been built for her., the sheets and duvet already spread across it. She’ll…chose to take it in the welcoming gesture it was probably intended, not the scary one she’s thinking of; people she doesn’t know have touched her bed things.

Juli runs off and inside the room, and she can already hear him rummaging, her boxes moving.

“Is he alright being in there alone?” Masaomi lowly queries, and she nods at him.

“He’ll be fine.” They head back to the lift, only going up a floor (she wonders where the stairs are, then thinks it might be rude to ask, as though she’s calling them lazy) and then they’re going up some steps, and down a flight of stairs, and-

Yeah, they probably get enough of a workout just doing this multiple times a day.

It doesn’t take long for her to encounter brothers three and four. They’re practically an inverted, mirror-image of one another. Wild silver hair and black that’s been tamed, glasses and no glasses, casually dressed and shirt-and-tie.

She’s more than surprised when wild-silver approaches and _hugs_ her, can feel her eyes going wide in shock. It’s only for a moment though; as she begins tensing her fingers and arm into preparing for a jab to his kidney, Juli calling out his nickname for her, and-

…

Except…

When was the last time she was hugged like this? Hugged at all? His arms are tight around her, stretching across her back, and he smells like aftershave and fabric softener.

She doesn’t get to think about it long, as over wild-silver’s shoulder, she spots black-tamed rapidly approaching, a fist swing-

 _Oooh_ , that’s _gotta_ hurt!

She barely notices Juli land on her shoulder as she first takes a step back to balance herself, before instinctually lunging forwards to try and catch him. It ends up as some sort of weird backwards twist-and-grab that has him only a few inches off the floor, and as he blinks in shock, she slowly lowers him, until he’s leaning against the edge of the sofa.

“You alright?” He blinks even more at her, before cautiously nodding, a hand coming up to touch his head. She doesn’t _mean_ to slap it away, but she hears the sound, even as she’s tilting his head forward so she can look. “There’s no blood, but you might want to stay sitting for a while. That force you were hit with… It might cause a bruise.”

“…Yes, I’ll do that.” She pulls back, eyeing him for a brief moment, before turning to look at the other twin, who’s eyeing her with a studious gaze. She looks him up and down; he hadn’t seemed violent, not at first appearance. If anything, wild-silver looked more emotional and prepared to fight than him! Guess that simply goes to show that you can never judge a book by its cover.

“I…I’m Azusa. That’s Tsubaki. Yo…yoroshiku ne.” His voice might seem soft and polite, but she’s seen the…the violent _animal_ behind the façade. Good grief, might Juli be right about his whole ‘wolves’ analogy? She nods sharply in response, just the once, and the situation turns…decidedly cool. It’s only the arrival of a well-dressed man pushing a tea-trolley that has any of them moving. He’s looking down whilst pushing it, but the second he looks up, she can see his eyes squinting, even behind his glasses.

“You two, what-… Why are you on the floor, Tsubaki?”

“Imouto-chan told me not to move.” It’s almost cat-called, and in her peripheral, she can see how Azusa tenses up. This is starting to look like a tattle-tale situation, and she doesn’t like how he’s made her the ‘bad guy’ in this.

“I…I see.” He clearly doesn’t. “Perhaps you could sit on the sofa instead?” With a huff, Tsubaki does, and the tea-trolley is pushed to a pause behind the short-side of the large sofa. “Hajimemashite. I’m Ukyō. I work as a lawyer.” He suddenly startles as Juli begins shouting at him from the floor, something about guys with ‘higher specs’ (like game stats?) arriving consecutively.

But a lawyer in the family, as well as a doctor? That’s…pretty impressive, actually. Except she knows lawyers have to be pretty cut-throat, so she’s fairly certain he’s probably got an animal hidden underneath his skin as well. Vaguely, she ponders if a politician is going to be what the third-oldest brother’s job is, because wouldn’t that just _make_ the trifecta?

“I’m Ema. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.” Mid bow, she’s tugged down, and she finds herself falling first onto the sofa, and then against Tsubaki, who pulls her close with an arm across her shoulders.

“Yeah, yoroshiku.” And there’s that nice smell again, which has her smiling ever-so slightly. She wonders if this is going to be like a Pavlovian thing, where she just has to smell _this_ smell, and she’ll be smiling. But the second she hears the shouting, the smile fades, and she looks up at the balcony to see a redhead shouting down, something about ‘Tsuba-nii doing something in the house?’

Isn’t that Asahi-

…

She’s an idiot.

That’s Asahina-kun, from her class. She’s going to have…she _has_ , rather, one of her future brothers in her class. That’s…

“Ah, Yūsuke-kun, welcome home!”

“It’s not ‘welcome home’! Bringing home a girl in the living room is-” He stops abruptly, and she wonders what it is that’s caught his eye; the familiar uniform, or her? He swiftly appears, having run down the staircase, and stops in front of her. “You!”

“Me?” She pulls away from Tsubaki, who only lets go when she elbows him slightly in his side.

“Why?” Wait, does he mean ‘why’ is she here? Like, has no-one _told_ him? She looks from brother to brother, to Tsubaki who smirks and turns away, to Azusa who isn’t looking at her, to Ukyō who is sighing. No, it doesn’t look like anyone’s told him.

“Tsubaki, I told you to inform Yūsuke of this…”

“Wha-?” Asahina-kun looks funny the way he’s turning from brother to brother, the confusion on his face turning into a scowl when Tsubaki laughs. “Tsuba-nii, you didn’t tell me on purpose!”

“On purpose? You make me sound like a bad person!” To her, it sounds like a cross between mean and mischievous. But Asahina-kun’s gaze goes from Tsubaki to her, his scowl turning into a frown.

“I won’t accept it,” he gently yet firmly states.

“Hm?” Accept what? If it’s her becoming his step-sister, it’s not exactly something she can control now, is it?

“My classmate _can’t_ be my sibling.” Then he’s walking off, and Tsubaki stands to follow him, wavering only at the first step.

“Hey, what are you saying that you aren’t accepting?” Tsubaki’s clearly heard him the first time, given the teasing tone in his voice, but the pair end up over by the far wall, arguing about what involves each of them.

A slight jolt has her turning from the pair, and she spots Juli on the back of the sofa, looking at her. “Chi, are you alright? You’re not looking so good.” She shakes her head slightly, blinking away the blurriness that appears; she hadn’t slept well these past few nights, in addition to what might be a cold coming on. She pulls a lozenge from the tube in her trouser pocket, hastily throwing it into her mouth.

A flash of colour draws her gaze, combined with a light thud, and-

Cosplay or real?

Blond hair, purple and gold outer-robe over black- Are those prayer beads?

“We finally meet, imouto-chan.” She doesn’t like the sound of that. ‘Finally’ sounds like someone who’s been thinking about a potential encounter for a _long_ -ass time. Considering she only found out about her father’s marriage to the boys’ mother a few _weeks_ ago… “If you ever want to hear some prayers,” she blinks, and finds her hand being raised, hears the sound of tea being poured close by, “come to onī-chan anytime.”

He kisses her hand! He _kisses_ her _hand_ , and she can’t tell whether to approve of his manners, or be shocked at his forwardness. He can’t be a real monk, can he? He sounds more like the hosts she’s seen on TV than a _monk_. The way he smoothly speaks and keeps her attention…

“I feel like I should be nominating you as shimei,” she softly mutters, but it clearly catches the other’s ear, and he chuckles loudly; the shouting in the background stops, and over the blond’s shoulder, she can see two more men standing in a doorway.

“I’d gladly be your named host…except that’s not how my sect works,” he finishes with a wink. She purses her lips to try and stop smiling, and raises an eyebrow before nodding knowingly.

“Understood.” Except not really. Because this sounds like he’s both a monk _and_ a host, and she can’t help but imagine what sect of Buddhism had their monks being allowed to act like this. Lost in thought, she almost doesn’t notice Juli running up her arm to where their hands are still joined, and she doesn’t react in time to stop him from swiping at the blond’s face.

“Juli!” Pulling back, she grabs him frantically, nearly throwing him into the sofa cushions as she jumps up to look at the other’s face. “Here, show me.” The blond (Kana-something? Asahina-kun had called him ‘Kana-nī’ whilst shouting earlier, correct?) pulls his hand away from where he’s pressed it against his nose, and she looks up…and up at him. The height difference hadn’t seemed so much when she was sitting down, but- “Wow, what’s the weather like up there?” He smirks in response, and she looks at his nose. “Looks like he didn’t use his claws. You’ve got a slightly raised line though, so I’d suggest putting a cold flannel on it to try and prevent bruising.” She sighs, coming back down from where she’d been balancing on her tip-toes. “I’m so sorry about Juli.”

“It’s fine, imouto-chan. He’s probably been your sole protector for so long that coming into a place with so many people…” That’s…not _completely_ wrong _._

She’s seated on the sofa facing the gap between the two coffee tables, and her future brothers begin filling in the rest of the wide ‘U’ shape of the seats. Kaname, as he soon introduces himself as, seats himself next to her, and following on from him are Subaru (another quick introduction) in a tracksuit (team?) jacket, Tsubaki and Azusa. Wataru rapidly runs along the sofa to jump in the spot next to her, returning Masaomi’s frown with a wide smile, the elder moving to sit next to him. Asahina-kun seats himself in the corner, the other newcomer, Iori, and Ukyō on the corner, but only after he’s made certain everyone has tea in front of them.

It’s…slightly awkward, to say the least, especially since she seems to acquired most of their attentions. It’s ‘new classmate syndrome’, she knows, where the introduction of someone new indicates change, and therefore possibly excitement; she just doesn’t _like_ it. If she puts up with it for high-school, tries to get a dorm at Meiji (she’ll get in, she will!) along with a part-time job, has a full-time job set up immediately after graduation… It should be easy enough to get a place of her own, right?

She doesn’t even realise she’s messing with her jacket’s sleeves until Masaomi asks if she’s cold.

“No, I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”

“It’s got to be the opposite,” Kaname continues, “since so many people are gathered here together.” The way he says it makes her question if big family meetings like this are rare. Granted, with the wide range of ages, they’ll possibly be an equally vast range of times they’ll wake to eat breakfast and leave the house for school or work. If that’s the case, then it’s probably the same for dinner as well.

Her gaze fixes on his face, more specifically his nose, and almost self-consciously he lifts a hand to his face, his smile fading slightly.

“Is the scratch that visible?” If what she’s thinking is correct, that he’s also some sort of host in addition to being a monk, then his worry is understandable; his face is a major part of his money-making.

“Hm? Ah, it’s not. Just a slight red raise. Still think you should chill it though.” She sighs, rubbing the fabric of Juli’s bow in-between her fingers. “I really am sorry about it though.”

“It’s fine, honestly. Since it’s my cute imouto-chan’s pet, I have to spoil it as well.” That is a very amiable demeanour…which is probably useful in his line of work…either of them. Juli tries to escape from her grip, shouting something about ‘blond wolves being in heat’; Kaname pulls back in surprise, and she doesn’t blame him. Once bitten (scratched), twice shy.

But he’s still right though. It is getting warm in here. She tugs at the neckline of her t-shirt a few times, only to look up as Iori (that’s his name, right?) begins speaking.

“Were you surprised? Since your amount of siblings suddenly increased?” What, from zero to thir-… Four to the right of her, five to the left… That makes nine. Already it feels stifling…suffocating with so many other people around what is supposed to be the safe-haven of home.

“Yes, I was told there were this many of you, but it’s still…” How to end it politely?

“I’m glad that I have a big sister!” Wataru interjects, and she looks down at him; he looks so cute when he’s all excited. “Let’s go play in my room, I have a big rabbit toy!” She looks down at her arm, which he’s grabbed hold of, then back at Masaomi, who is in the process of pulling him away, telling him it’ll wait until later. She sort-of hopes ‘later’ never comes; she’s never been the world’s biggest fan of rabbits, not since she read that story about the Bunnies of War when she was a teenager…the first time around.

Without even prompting, Kaname begins explaining about the missing brothers; useful, but still slightly weird in how he’s near-enough read her mi-

She has a squirrel she can understand. Who’s to say it’s the squirrel that has the power of speech, and not her having the ability to understand a squirrel’s chittering? She’s not exactly come across any other squirrels to test that, so… Maybe Kaname can read thoughts?

“There are still others; two live separately, and two are currently still at work. One of them is…there.” He turns the TV on, raises the volume, and… It’s some sort of concert.

“It’s Fuu-tan!” Wataru explains, and she mimics him in confusion. What follows is a discussion about being in Hokkaido on tour, and grabbing omiyage for them. Finally, Masaomi properly explains he’s one of the missing brothers; Asakura (apparently a popular teen Jpop star (oops!)) is actually Asahina Fūto. She’s surprised they’ve let the fifteen year old travel so far without familial supervision.

Well, that’s one down, three more missing brothers to go.

She’s got a feeling her life is going to get very…very…noisy? Noisy is what she means, right? She coughs lightly, keeping her mouth closed so it’s more like sudden exhalations of air, and reaching forwards for her tea…

Her hand hits the table with a thud, and the shock has her coughing again. _That_ …is a very blurry floor. Her head is pounding, his throat feels scratchy, even as she breathes. Urgh, she’s gotten that cold she knew she was going to get, hasn’t she?

“Imouto-chan?” The band across her stomach shifts suddenly, and…oh yeah, it’s weird to look at the floor like this, isn’t it? There’s a sort of rumbling noise as well; an approaching thunderstorm?

“Hmm?”

“Are you dizzy?” Masaomi’s face appears in her peripheral vision, a bit too close to try and focus on him.

“Cold,” she explains, sniffling slightly. She bought tissues…yesterday? Thursday? Except that probably meant they were boxed-up, and _urgh_ , she does _not_ want to go rummaging through boxes right now. “I think…lie down? What room was my floor on again?” Wait…that sounds…

“…Kaname-kun, if you wouldn’t mind?”

“Ready.” Wait, ready for what?

 _Waaaaah_ , she’s _flying_! She’s a bird, flying up and up and up and-

Hmm, purring cats sound all rumbly like a thunderstorm and-

The clouds on the ceiling are _preeeeeetty_.

“Sleepy time?”

“Hai, imouto-chan.”

“Open up, Ema-chan.” She opens her eyes, blinking up at Masaomi. He looks down, backdropped by a box mountain, and then she yawns. “Open up.” She opens her eyes to look at him, and he looks down at her with a slight frown, and she yawns. “Open up.” She opens her eyes to see him looking down at her.

“Nii-san, you’re confusing her. She’s opening her eyes when you tell her to.”

“Ema-chan. I have medicine. Open your _mouth_.” She licks her lips and…sticks out her tongue. A few seconds pass, and- _Urgh_ , that tastes _horrible_! “Sleep, Ema-chan. We’ll check on you in a bit.”

“I’m sorry I’m sick,” she tries to say, but she can taste the words in her mouth. Wrong, all wrong.

“You don’t have to apologise, imouto-chan,” Kaname responds, a blur of purple and black in the distance.

“In the worst case,” she vaguely recognises the voice; Ukyō? “We do have a physician.”

“It’s paediatrics though,” Masaomi responds, leaning over to place a hand on her forehead. “Tell me if you need anything.”

“Thank you. Whatever wrong-taste you gave me, it seems to be working.” She does feel better, a little bit, but she can’t tell if that’s because of the foul-tasting liquid she was given, or because she’s lying down in her own bed, which smells…does she smell aftershave?

“You must be tired,” Juli continues from where he is sitting on the shelf in her headboard. “You’ve been run down these past few weeks, going to school as well as sorting out all the moving details, _and_ you didn’t get enough sleep last night.”

“That must have been difficult for you,” a new voice speaks up (did he just open her _door_?), and she tries to focus on the new face; the light in the hallway leading to the door doesn’t help much. Everyone talks, but it’s difficult to focus; she thinks she hears the name ‘Louis’, but that sounds decidedly French and possibly wrong. One of the missing brothers, she’ll assume.

This ‘Louis’ is a hairdresser, according to Ukyō, and her room’s bath is out of commission, so she’ll need to use the larger one…somewhere else, and someone’s making porridge for breakfa-…dinner, but she’s not hungry, and-

They’re gone before she can say anything.

She falls asleep with the lights on, and the sound of people walking and talking coming through her ceiling.

…

She wakes.

She eats.

She sleeps.

…

…

She wakes to the faint sound of clattering. It takes a second to orientate herself, to remember she’s not in her old apartment, but in the big one she’s sharing with her soon-to-be brothers. She wakes to darkness (weren’t the lights _on_?) and has to remember to move right instead of left to get out of her bed.

Finding the light switch, she taps it, and opens the door to find…is that Ukyō’s tea-trolley? With fruit and flowers and things on it?

“Did I wake you up?” She opens the door further, finding Kaname walking back down to the main junction. Given the direction of the trolley, and how the corridor her room is on has a closed-end, she can only assume the clattering noise was him attempting to turn it around to make it easier to push into her room. That’s…kind of sweet, really.

“No, you didn’t.” He did, but she’s not going to tell him that.

“I did, didn’t I? Typical. Here, let me put this inside for you; my attempt at an apology. It’s a gift from everyone; some might be easily paired to their giver than others.”

“Seriously, there’s nothing to apologise for.”

“My cute little imouto-chan was woken from her sick bed. I think I _do_.” Whatever. She’s got a feeling he’ll do it whether she wants him to or not.

“Thank you then, Kaname-san.” She tries to sniff him as he walks by her, to see if his aftershave is the one on her bed, but she can’t smell a thing at all. Either she’d have to get right up close to him to smell him (probably a bad idea), or she’ll have to wait until this cold goes away, and hope she can match the faded scent to a fresh one.

“You _can_ call me, ‘onī-chan, you know?”

“O…onī-chan?” Well, doesn’t he look pleased at her calling him _that_! Then again, he’s the first soon-to-be brother she’s actually _called_ a brother, which, if she knows guys in the slightest, he’ll hold over the rest of them until he’s in his sick-bed _dying_.

“That sounds nice, once more.” Just for being the delivery boy, she tries to make it sound cuter, just for him, by bowing her shoulders slightly, looking up through her eyelashes, and biting her lip.

“ _Onī-chan_.” The way he closes his eyes, as though savouring a wine and being determined not to let any other sense interfere with it… He’s got some sort of complex, she knows he has.

“Hmm… Do you think you can get back to sleep?”

“Probably.” She yawns, quickly changing her answer to- “definitely.”

“Should onī-chan sleep with you?” Did he _really_ just-? Host skills powered-up to eleven!

“Whilst it’s…admirable you’re willing to potentially gain a cold _just_ for my benefit,” she teases, a small smile on her face, “that’s really not necessary.”

“I see. Well, that’s too bad. But if you need anything else, tell me.”

“Thank you Kana-… _onī-chan_.” It’s worth it, just to see the way it makes him smile slightly, breaking the ‘host’ façade he’d been using.

“Well then, oyasumi,” he answers, lifting a hand to her chin, a kiss being pressed to her cheek. She coughs in shock, pushing him away slightly, ignoring the sound of a yelling Juli.

“First of all, I don’t want to infect you.” A pause to cough some more, and shake some of the fuzziness from her head. “And secondly, don’t tease.”

“Ah, what are a few germs? Besides, I might be serious.” She scoffs at that, then coughs again. Seriously, this coughing is hurting her throat.

“Okay, first of all, the playboy…” she waves a hand up and down, words escaping her, “ _thing_ , combined with the joking is…good for a host, bad for trying to permanently get someone. Remember that in future. Second, I can tell you’re a kind person, even with the…the layered personality.” Kind, probably gentle, and an adult woman’s experiences combined with the hormones of a teenager make some interesting images pop into her head; she can feel her cheeks begin to flush.

“I’d feel bad if your fever suddenly spiked, so I’ll leave it at this for now.” He walks past her, and she hates that she can’t smell a thing. “When you’re all healed, how about I give you a better kiss?” He heads back to the lifts without giving her an opportunity to answer, and she peeks around the edge of her door to watch him go.  What a flirt he is!

Chuckling and coughing, she heads back inside, pausing mid-step when she sees Juli watching her on the edge of the step.

“What?”

“Chi, you need to be on your guard against the wolves.” There’s the strangest mixture of confusion and disappointment in his voice. “They’re ravenous animals who won’t hesitate to attack!”

Part of her (admittedly the adult woman in her) wants to shock him, wants to tell him she wants to be ‘attacked’. Not necessarily by one of these future-brothers of hers, but by _someone_. Not a boy, or a teenager, but someone closer to how old she was Before. A man _like_ Kaname, but that’s _not_ Kaname.

“Stop worrying, Juli,” she tries to placate. “We’re to be siblings. Stop assuming the worst.”

“ _Chi_.”

“Now, I think I’m going to have a bath. Do you remember which box had my bath-things in?” Stupidly, she leans forwards, only things go a bit skewwhiff, and she has to catch herself on one of the tower of boxes; they aren’t exactly sturdy, so she has to do a little hop-step to stay upright. “Let’s not do that again.”

“Chi, can’t the bath wait until tomorrow?” She turns to him, a raises an eyebrow momentarily.

“And the likelihood of the ‘wolves’ wanting their own baths during the daytime?”

“You’re right! Now is definitely the best time!” A few seconds of bouncing and sniffing has him sitting on one of the boxes; typical of her luck, it’s one of the ones she’s going to have to bend over to reach. Maybe if she leans onto the end of her bed first… Success! “Ah, Chi?”

“Juli?” Shampoo…conditioner…body-wash…

“Do you remember what Ukyō said?”

“Hm? Said when?” Flannel…towel…lotion…hairbr- Where’s her brush? Did she put it in this box, or one of the others?

“Ah. You don’t. Chi, he said the bath for this room isn’t working. There are maps on the desk to get you to the large bathroom on the fifth floor.”

Hm, when he said ‘bath’, did he mean just the tub, or the whole water-supply for the room? Does she still have a shower to wash with, but not a tub to soak? She’s not too fussed about the lack of a tub, but if she has to keep going upstairs every _day_ just to wash…

“I’ll ask tomorrow for clarification,” she tells herself, ignoring Juli’s tilted head.

“Still, are you going to be okay going into a bath, as sick as you are?” She pulls back from the box and sniffs; she doesn’t feel as hot as before, and things aren’t quite as fuzzy. She vaguely recollects taking medicine…and rice porridge? She’s fairly certain she can still taste it on her teeth.

“I slept a bit, and the fever’s gone down, so I should be okay.” And then he tells her he’ll be her escort, which- “In the _building_?”

She takes the lift up to the fifth floor, toiletry basket and pyjamas in hand, staring at the map in front of her. If she comes out the lift and faces steps, she should turn-

“Left?” Then Juli jumps from her shoulder, mentioning something about scouting ahead. Really, he’s way too cautious. Following the corridor (and the map), has the toilets on the right, so the entrance to the bathroom should be another le-

The light’s on? Someone’s already in there? She knocks on the door, and a blur behind the frosty glass gets bigger and bigger, until the door is being opened, and she’s looking at a toned and muscular chest and abdomen.

“Ah. You…”

“Sorry to bother you. Will you be much longer?” It takes a bit of effort to look away from that _body_ (damn Kaname for getting her all riled up!), and she’s fairly certain this is Ior-… No, Iori had greyish-blue hair. This one is…Subaru? She spots the bottle in his hand; wasn’t that one of the ones on the trolley earlier? Had the water been his ‘gift’?

“A few minutes. Sorry.”

“No problem. I’ll wait out on the sofa till you’re done.” She walks away, back down the corridor, rubbing her nose to try and stop herself from sneezing. She can feel the slight blush forming on her cheeks (damn you Kaname!)

But as she heads back to wait, she hears voices that weren’t there when she exited the lift, and why the _hell_ weren’t all these boys in their _own_ rooms!

 _“There’s something that I must tell you.”_ Wait, she recognises that voice; Tsubaki? _“Haven’t we been together for a long time?”_ Yes, Tsubaki, but also…no? Lower, calmer...

 _“That’s right.”_ Azusa?

 _“But lately, when I’m with you, I feel different.”_ Wow, that took a turn she was not expecting.

“What’s wrong?” she hears from behind, and she turns to see Subaru, properly dressed now and with a towel around his neck.

 _“My heart starts racing, and I can’t calm down.”_ This…this appeals to the part of her that thinks two guys is hot, less so to the two _siblings_ , but… _Something_ is wrong. It’s Tsubaki’s voice…but… _not_? _“I also get irritated when you get along with other people.”_

_“Huh?”_

No, this sounds… It sounds less like a conversation, and more like a dialogue, like a- Like a _script_. Oh, she _does_ knows the voice; it’s from one of her games! ‘Blood and Guts 2’? Hmm, no. ‘Zombie Rampage: Defend Shikoku’? More likely, but-… Argh! This is going to annoy her!

_“I…I’m in love with you. Become mine.”_

“Those two,” Juli begins, “they’re like that even though they’re male?” Huh. Well isn’t that something new to learn about Juli; he’d completely ignored the ‘sibling’ part to go for the gender. But Juli speaking seems to have attracted Subaru’s attention.

“Ah, those two work as seiyū.” She was right! Now she’s wondering if they have a list of work they’ve been in, because not knowing is going to bug her until she figures it out. Maybe there’re manuals in the game cases that have the lists of seiyū?

“What’s this? What’s wrong?” Tsubaki calls out, as he, then Azusa, come up the stairs. She doesn’t respond, her brain frantically going through the list of game titles still boxed up in her room.

“How are you feeling?” ‘Capital Destruction’? ‘Resurrection 4’?

“Your face is completely red.”

“Do you still have a fever?”

She’s got it! “‘Black Mirror: Crimson Butterfly’!” She nods decisively, only to unconsciously sway. Maybe it _is_ too soon to be in a heated bath? “Sorry, did you say something?”

“Yes, but- _What_ about ‘Black Mirror’?” Tsubaki asks, head tilted and eyes almost squinting.

“Your voice! I knew I recognised it from somewhere.” She hears footsteps come up from behind her.

“She heard you,” Subaru explains.

“Ah, I see.” It’s simultaneously said by both of them, and wow, the power of twins…

“That’s right,” Tsubaki continues, lowering his voice back to the register she heard when they were practicing. “I can’t hold it in any longer.” Wait, does-… He thinks she doesn’t know that it’s not real! Hah, this’ll be good! “I couldn’t stop, and confessed to Azusa.”

“I’m sorry to have interrupted.” She says it as apologetically as she can, and has to turn her snicker into a cough, which _hurts_. Ow!

“It’s fine. It’s a mutual love.” He swings his arm over Azusa’s shoulders and- “Right, Azusa?” -kisses him! Oh, bless him for taking it so far! He must be good at taking a gag or a mistake and running with it. That sort of adaptability must serve him well in a recording studio.

“Tsuba-nii…” Subaru groans out, and she hears him face-slap himself. “She heard you _practicing_ ,” he repeats, but continues with- “and I told her you both work as seiyū.”

“…Ah.” At his utterance, she bursts out laughing, flinging a hand over her mouth when it rapidly degenerates into coughing up her lungs.

“Oh, that was _hilarious_ ,” she rasps out. “Good call on going with the flow though.” She staggers over to the sofa, collapsing onto it, and Tsubaki falls beside her, Azusa on his other side.

“Yes, we were practicing for our next job,” Azusa explains.

“An anime or a game? I’m only asking because that sounded like a BL confession.” She watches the two trade glances.

“We can’t talk too much about it, since the full film be released next year, but it’s just a film-trailer, for the moment,” Tsubaki finally answers.

“It’s a light-novel adaptation, and the studio wants to have a trailer ready to show with the summer blockbusters, so we’ve been asked to assist,” Azusa continues. “We might not even be the final choice of seiyū for it.”

“Ah, that would be a pity,” she answers, trying not to nod. “The two of you work so well together.” She yawns, nearly falling forward and off the sofa, only stopping because Tsubaki grabs her shoulder and tugs her backwards. “I’m sorry. I think I was getting ahead of myself with wanting a bath. And I’m sorry for bothering you during your practice. I’ve a feeling that, though summer seems far away, these sorts of things need to be done weeks if not months in advance.”

“It’s fine,” Azusa answers, whilst Tsubaki stands, and she looks up, seeing Subaru standing at the lift doors, his back to them. She’d shout a goodnight, except her throat hurts right now.

“When you’re better, how about you be my practice partner sometime?” Tsubaki asks, and she raises an eyebrow as best she can.

“In a BL adaptation?”

“Hey, I don’t always do BL. You said it yourself, I was in the game ‘Black Mirror’.” He’s almost _whining_ now, and it’s so childish that she can’t help but smile at him.

“True, but haven’t you heard the fan-theories about Black-dono and Kagami-kun?” Wait, if Tsubaki was Black-dono, then… Had Azusa been Kagami-kun? Ah, she’ll _have_ to find that game manual now! Again, the boys eye each other; in the background, she hears the ‘ping’ of the lift.

“Ah, no,” Tsubaki states, hand ruffling his own hair.

“Our manager,” Azusa explains (and that seems to be his job between the pair of them, doesn’t it?), “said that we should stay firmly away from fan-forums about any of our works, if we didn’t want to be, how did she put it, ‘blinded by fangirls’.”

“Smutty, porn-filled fanart,” she agrees, nodding just the once because it’s still making her woozy. “I think I’ll head back to bed and stick to showering for a few days. Goodnight.” Standing, she completely misses both men’s wide-eyed stares at her.

“…O…oyasumi.”

The lift takes no time all to arrive, and she heads down to her floor, Juli on her shoulder.

“I can’t believe it. Seiyū for ‘Black Mirror’.” She’d shake her head in disbelief, but she’s properly learnt not to now.

“ _Chi._ ” Uh-oh. Juli sounds like he’s about to give her a right telling off. “‘Smutty, porn-filled fanart’?”

“Well,” she answers, stepping inside her room and flipping the light-switch, “they shouldn’t have tried to tease me.”

“Well… Keep on your guard, Chi. These wolves are nothing like the animals you have in school. These are older, more vicious, more practiced in the hunt.”

“I don’t know, Juli. Practice before I begin hunting for myself might not be the worst.” She teases him, no truth in her words, not really, because they imply that she’ll ‘hunt’ for a ‘mate’ at some point, will want to settle down with someone.

“Chi?” He sounds so worried. He shouldn’t; she’s got no intention of settling down.

“You know, calling them wolves is rude.”

“Chi, the way they hu-”

“It’s rude to _me_.”

“…Eh?”

“You make men the ‘predator’ and give me the role of ‘prey’, indicating you think I’m weak, that I’ll just roll over and show them my belly and let them mount me. Why can’t I be the huntress, the predator? Why can’t I be the wolf, or the spotted hyena, or the honeybee?” Can you tell she’s researched this?

“…I…you…” He doesn’t seem able to complete a whole sentence, barely a few words really, and they each go to bed in a somewhat tense silence.

“Juli?” she asks, when enough time has passed. She hasn’t heard him snoring yet, so she knows he’s still awake.

“Chi?”

“Just because I’m thinking about hunting doesn’t mean I’ll find anyone who meets my specifications.” Her situation is difficult, after all. She wants someone close to her mental age, not her physical one, and being with anyone of that physical age gap is probably socially frowned upon. And illegal, come to think of it, since Japan’s age of adulthood is twenty, even though the age for consensual sex, in Tōkyō at least, is eighteen. What’s even weirder is that a female can be as young as sixteen and legally get married, so long as she has a parent’s consent.

“You know what you’re looking for?”

“Hmm…sort of? But isn’t that part of the hunt? Learning from someone that you like parts of them, but don’t like others, and then look for those good parts in others who have _other_ good parts that you want, until you find the _right_ person?”

“…Maybe.”

She sniffs, even as she snuggles into her pillow, and a lucky inhale at the right time has a waft of aftershave sneaking into her nose. It’s a very nice smell.

She’ll just…just have to……find who………………………

...

..

.

 


End file.
